Memorial
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: Tomorrow series. The surviving members of their group get tattoos together as a reminder of those of them who hadn't made it through the war alive. *Complete*


_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tomorrow When The War Began series or the characters. This is just for fun.**_

_**Enjoy**_

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><p><em><strong>Memorial<strong>_

It was nearly five years since the war had ended, and Australia was at last becoming stable once again; over forty percent of the land had been taken by the enemy, but most major cities had remained, and local townships including Wirrawee were returning to their former glory.

Only Homer and Ellie had remained in Wirrawee. Lee had moved to Melbourne with his little brothers and sisters. Fi now lived with her parents and little sister in Stratton. Kevin and his family were in Cavendish. But at least they were alive, when three of their friends weren't, Corrie, Chris and Robyn, the names of the three and the memories of their deaths were never far from the minds of the surviving group members.

It had not been easy to adapt to normal life, not after everything the teens turned guerrilla fighters had seen and done, but they'd done pretty well considering.

Ellie had remained on the family farm, Gavin had been with her for a few years, but just over a year ago he had reunited with his sister, who was now living with an aunt in Newcastle, he chose to live there; farming was an industry that was still yet to recover fully from the effects of the war, but Ellie was determined to make it work, and she was, she had diversified, and her farm now supplied over half of the meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, and to a lesser extent, vegetables and fruit to the township, she employed several local workers to assist her with the work. Lee and Ellie still maintained a close relationship, but it seemed unlikely that they would ever be together given the circumstances.

Lee had been forced to live in a small apartment with his eight siblings, he was at work more than he was home in order to provide for the kids; there was little government support now, and he had little choice, but at least maybe he could give them the future he had been heading towards before the war.

Kevin lived in Cavendish with his parents and brother, they had not been able to keep up with the expenses of farm life, all now worked at a large factory in town, he had a steady girlfriend, Chloe, they were now looking at her moving in with the family.

Homer, well he was pretty much as he had always been. He and his brother too had lost their farm due to the high costs, they now lived in one of the workers' cottages on Ellie's farm, they would help her out on the farm in return for the house; Ellie would have done it for free.

All had given speeches in the months after the war, including a meeting with the heads of government, who had returned after the war had been declared over, and to this day lived their lives within secure fenced compounds. There had even been a book written on the teens' efforts during the war; that was something that none of them wanted, but when push came to shove, they needed the money that its sale would raise.

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><p>That Sunday in late spring would be a reunion of sorts for the group. They had agreed to meet for lunch in Wirrawee, for some it would be a long trip, but no one hesitated to agree when Ellie had called them.<p>

It was impossible to miss the irony that the train track that Kevin and Fi had to use to travel between their homes and Wirrawee, and the track that Ellie had destroyed during the war were one in the same.

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><p>The group met up at new diner in town for lunch, or at least that was what Ellie told the others; Homer and Ellie drove in that morning from the farm, while Lee, Fi, and Kevin had arrived by train the previous day, and stayed in town overnight.<p>

Ellie had more planned though than a lunch, she'd put a lot of time and thought into a way that they could all commemorate their friends and what they had done.

No one else on the planet had seen what they had, nor had they shared the bond that the eight friends had.

As they ate, it was clear that despite the war being over, each of them still held onto what had become instinctual during the war. They were seldom at ease, from where they sat they had a clear view of the diner, nowhere felt safe. Maybe one day they could get past this fear, but not now.

Fingering the piece of paper that she held, Ellie looked around at her friends as they ate. Tentatively, Ellie broached the subject of why she had gathered them there, "Guys, can I just get your attention, just for a minute?" Ellie paused for a moment, waiting for her friends to quieten, "I've been thinking a lot about everything, about Corrie and Robyn, about everything that happened, what we did... I was thinking about getting a tattoo, sort of a memorial thing. I spoke to this guy at Ink, he said he'd do it no charge." Ellie laid out the sketch of the planned tattoo, so that the others could see it.

The design was quite simple really, wording with a small mauve and white flower arrangement design sitting below the first line. The wording read,

_RIP_

_Corrie Mackenzie_

_Robyn Mathers_

_Forever in our hearts_

_Your sacrifice will never be forgotten_

_One day we will meet again,_

_in Hell_

Everyone quickly agreed that there was nothing they wanted changed. Conspicuously missing from the design was Chris' name, he had not died in battle, he had barely fought, he had killed himself with alcohol while they had been out fighting, he had been selfish, and that was something that none of them wanted to remember.

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><p>After finishing their lunch, the teens walked to the tattoo shop. The shop's owner, Rick Walsh greeted them genially, "Hey, come on in." He shook each of the teens' hands in turn, before getting down to business. "So, who's up first?"<p>

Homer of course insisted on going first, yet surprisingly he took the pain worse than even Fi, much to everyone's amusement.

The boys chose to have the tattoo placed on their shoulder blade, as did Ellie, Fi was the only one to choose another place, she chose for hers to be on the side of her right calf.

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><p>They all chatted amongst themselves as the tattooist worked, each person's tattoo took about two hours to complete. The tattooist was keen to ask questions about their experiences of the war; it was the first time they had really discussed it completely openly, not worrying that what they said was politically incorrect or too awful, it was as though the weight had lifted from their shoulders.<p>

Time had healed many wounds, though there would always be some left behind. I am speaking of wounds that ran much deeper than the nearly matching gunshot scars on Lee and Ellie's calves, or the long scar down Fi's face, the wounds I speak of cannot be seen, but they at times felt like they could be fatal.

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><p><strong>The End<strong>

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